Cabinet Attack Leads To Roundup Of 500 Extremists

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CAIRO, EGYPT — More than 500 suspected Muslim extremists have been rounded up for questioning in the attempted assassination of a Cabinet minister, police said Friday.

The extremist group al-Gamaa al-Islamiya claimed responsibility for the attack on Information Minister Safwat el-Sherif outside his home Tuesday.

The minister's left hand was injured by flying glass, and his driver and bodyguard suffered serious bullet wounds.

More than 140 people have died in extremist-related violence since January 1992, including three foreign tourists.

Al-Gamaa's spiritual leader is the blind cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is facing possible expulsion from self-exile in the United States.

6 Cuban musicians seek asylum during tour

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Six Cuban musicians, including the star of a popular nightclub act that performs internationally, requested political asylum Friday. ''There isn't freedom, nor food, nor work'' in Cuba, said singer Marietta Gutierrez Calderon, 26, leader of the 12-member ''Always Marietta'' revue. She and five colleagues left the rest of the group Thursday and took a bus from the northern resort of Puerto Plata to Santo Domingo to present their request to the Foreign Ministry. The ministry usually accepts asylum requests from people fleeing Fidel Castro's Communist nation. The remainder of the group will continue working in Puerto Plata, officials said.